Risks for Fuel Station Workers

Fuel station workplace safety: five risks in one job description

At a fuel station, the forecourt attendant, shop cashier and shift supervisor are often the same person. In the same shift they refuel vehicles, accompany tanker deliveries, clean up fuel spilled on the island and stand alone at the till at night. Fuel station safety is therefore planned not around a single hazard but around five interlocking risks.

Risk	When does it arise?	Basic measure
Fuel vapour and fire	Refuelling, tanker unloading, spills	Ignition source control, explosion protection document, emergency stop
Static electricity	Filling cans, tanker connection, getting in and out of vehicles	Earthing, placing the can on the ground, approved container
Vehicle traffic	Manoeuvring around the island, reversing, peak hours	Forecourt direction plan, visible clothing, not standing in front of vehicles
Night work and fatigue	Night shift, single-person shift	7.5-hour limit, shift plan, communication arrangement
Robbery and violence	Night, cash-heavy hours	Cash management, lighting, cameras, non-resistance instruction

The station's hazard class is determined by the NACE code of the main activity carried out; check your class with the steps in our article on how to find out your hazard class. You can see specialist and physician time requirements with the OHS obligations calculator.

Petrol vapour: fire and health risk

Petrol vapour is heavier than air; it sinks to the ground, collects in drains and pits and can spread far from its source. That is why at a station ignition can start not only right next to the nozzle but from a spark several metres away. The vapour is most concentrated:

When filling a vehicle's tank and removing the nozzle from the tank
During unloading from a tanker into an underground tank and around the tank vent pipe
When spilled fuel evaporates
When filling cans

A station is a workplace where flammable vapour can form an explosive mixture with air. The Regulation on the Protection of Workers from the Hazards of Explosive Atmospheres requires the explosion risk in such workplaces to be assessed, hazardous areas to be classified into zones and an explosion protection document to be prepared. Pump islands, the tank unloading point and vent pipes are subject to zoning in this document; electrical equipment must be selected to suit these zones. For details see our article on explosive atmospheres and the ATEX document.

Fuel is not only a fire risk. Petrol contains benzene, which is carcinogenic; inhaling the vapour causes headaches and dizziness, and repeated skin contact causes dryness and irritation. Workers wash fuel-contaminated hands with soap and water, not petrol, and change fuel-soaked clothing immediately. Diseases caused by benzene and its homologues appear separately in the list of occupational diseases. The workplace physician decides which tests are carried out in workers' health surveillance according to exposure.

Static electricity and ignition sources

Static electricity is an invisible ignition source at a station. The charge that builds up while a plastic can is filled on a vehicle's load bed or in the boot can discharge as a spark between the nozzle and the can. This is the most often underestimated of the forecourt attendant's risks. Rules to apply on site:

Cans are filled on the ground. Cans are not filled inside a vehicle, in the boot or on a pick-up's load bed; only containers approved for fuel are used.
The engine is switched off. The vehicle's engine does not run during refuelling; the driver is warned.
Earthing during tanker unloading: Before tanker unloading begins, the tanker's earthing connection is made and is not removed until unloading is complete. The area is closed off during unloading and nobody leaves the tanker's side.
Ban on naked flames and smoking: No smoking on the station forecourt; the ban is enforced with signs and verbal warnings.
Hot work: Spark-producing work such as welding and grinding on site is carried out only with a written permit; see hot work permit.
Spills: Spilled fuel is not washed into the drain with water; it is collected with absorbent material and segregated as hazardous waste. For spill response, see our article on chemical spill response.

Station fires: first response and emergency stop

In a station fire, the first minutes depend on whether the worker can find the emergency stop button and the extinguisher without thinking. Every worker must know:

Emergency stop button: The location of the buttons that cut power to the pumps. The first thing to do in a fire is stop the pumps.
Flame at the filling point: Do not pull the nozzle out of a burning tank and spray fuel around; stop the pump and respond with an extinguisher.
Extinguisher selection: An extinguisher suitable for flammable liquid fires is used; water is not used on an electrical panel fire. For types, see our article on fire extinguisher types.
Evacuating customers and vehicles: Drivers are directed to a safe place without starting the engines of vehicles on the forecourt.
Withdrawal: If the fire grows or advances towards the tanker area, the response is abandoned, the area is evacuated and the fire brigade awaited.

These behaviours are acquired only through practice. A worker who has to use an extinguisher for the first time in a real fire may even forget to pull the pin. We provide theoretical and practical fire training; for details see our fire training page.

Vehicle traffic: working between the islands

The forecourt attendant's work area is a car park with vehicles constantly coming and going. A reversing vehicle, a lorry turning its wheel as it pulls up to the island and blind spots the driver cannot see create a serious risk of being run over.

Workers wear high-visibility clothing; this rule has no exceptions, especially at night and in wet weather.
Workers do not stand in front of or behind a moving vehicle; when directing a vehicle, they stand to the side where the driver can see them.
Entry and exit directions are set with floor markings and signs; entry in the wrong direction is prevented.
Island edges and barriers are kept in a visible colour; in winter the ground is checked for ice.

Night shifts and robbery risk at the station

A night shift at a station combines two risks: fatigue and robbery. Under Art. 69 of the Labour Law, night work by workers may not exceed seven and a half hours. Long night shifts exceeding this limit mean both a legal problem and lapses of attention; when setting up the shift pattern, see the calculations in our article on night shifts.

Measures against robbery are taken in three layers: physical, organisational and behavioural:

Physical: Good lighting of the forecourt and till area, recording cameras, a lockable safe area behind the till, an alarm or panic button.
Organisational: Limiting the cash kept at the till and regularly transferring it to the safe, regular check-ins if working alone at night, a communication arrangement with nearby teams.
Behavioural: A written instruction backed by training: do not resist, do not follow the attacker, call the police once the incident is over. Money and goods are not worth more than the worker's health.

Training and daily checks

A newly hired forecourt attendant must receive at least two hours of induction training before their first shift; in this training, the emergency stop buttons, extinguisher locations, tanker unloading rules and the robbery instruction should be shown on site. For the training content, see our article on the induction training programme. We recommend that a new worker spends their first shifts with an experienced colleague and is not left alone on the night shift in the first days; the emergency stop, tanker unloading and robbery instructions become habits only after being practised on site several times. Keeping customer vehicles away from the tanker manoeuvring area during tanker unloading is also one of the rules to be shown in these first days. At each shift handover, a short walk is enough: are the emergency stop buttons accessible, are the extinguishers in place and pressurised, are there any spills, are the lighting and cameras working?

Site walks at fuel stations, compliance with the explosion protection document, the tanker unloading instruction and entering the night shift arrangement in the risk assessment are within the scope of our OHS specialist services.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the forecourt attendant's biggest risk?

No single risk stands out; fuel vapour and fire, static electricity, vehicle traffic, night work and robbery all come together in the same job description. The risk assessment should address these five headings separately.

Can fuel be dispensed into a plastic can?

Only into containers approved for fuel and with the can placed on the ground. Cans are not filled inside a vehicle, in the boot or on a load bed; a static spark can ignite the vapour.

How long can a night shift at a station be?

Under the Labour Law, night work by workers may not exceed seven and a half hours. Because extending the night shift would exceed this limit, the shift plan must be set up accordingly.

What should a worker do during a robbery?

Not resist, not follow the attacker, and call the police once the incident is over. This behaviour should be turned into a written instruction and explained in training; after the incident, the worker should see the workplace physician.